The keudjeuroeën was a chief’s title characteristic of the Westkust of Atjeh, originally designating the Sultan’s customs-collector and tax-farmer in the coastal lands, but in the course of time transformed — by fragmentation of the old sultanate of Daja and by Dutch recognition — into a hereditary territorial chieftaincy. De Buitenbezittingen treats the keudjeuroeën as the Westkust analogue of the oelèëbalang of Groot-Atjeh, its best-known holder being Teukoe Tjhï’ Meulabôh of the Kawaj XVI.
Origin in the Sultan’s revenue
The title, the source explains, derives from the Sultan’s practice of appointing customs-collectors — belastinggaarders des Sultans — to gather tribute in the distant coastal polities of the Westkust. In the year 1185 of the Mohammedan era (approximately 1760 AD), sixteen chiefs of the Meulabôh region, led by “een voornaam handelaar van die havenplaats,” made their appearance at the court of the Sultan of Atjeh and received, “tegen belofte van geregelde schatting,” letters of recognition — sarakata’s. Their conductor was appointed keudjeuroeën Tjhïʼ, “aan wien deze hoofden dus hunne schatting moesten afdragen.” Other Westkust chiefs subsequently received their own sarakata’s, but were not placed under this collector; his circle of sixteen tributaries was therefore distinguished as the Kawaj XVI.
From collector to territorial chief
The coastal polities of the Westkust had arisen, the handbook records, from the dissolution of the half-mythical Sultanate of Daja. As that realm fragmented, the Sultan’s customs-collectors in places such as Seunagan, Kloeët, Lhoʼ Nga, and Kroeëng Sabé “stelden daar plaatsvervangers aan, die soms ook wel keudjeuroeën, meestal oelèëbalang heetten, en in het algemeen aangeduid werden als oelèëbalang-tjoet.” These deputies — placed to collect tribute in distant districts — “wisten de meeste dezer plaatsvervangers zich onafhankelijk van hunnen heer te maken,” and “ten slotte waren de keudjeuroeëns niets meer dan hunne vroegere ondergeschikten, n.l. landschapshoofden over een klein gebied, terwijl alleen hun titel herinnert aan vroegere grootheid.” Best preserved was the keudjeuroeën of Seunagan, whose original territory lost only Seuneubën (granted away by the Sultan to a relative), while Beutông later conquered two further landschapjes.
The Meulabôh keudjeuroeën and Dutch transformation
In the Meulabôh region the keudjeuroeën Tjhïʼ sought to extend his territorial authority over the sixteen tributary chiefs, “hem gezag aan wat gelukte bij de 3 dato’s Meulabôh, doch niet bij overige landschapshoofden.” Dutch intervention radically enlarged the office: “Wij begiftigden Teukoe Tjhï’ van Meulabôh als loon voor zijne diensten met territoriaal gezag, niet alleen de hem reeds onderworpen 3 dato-schappen, doch ook nog over een tot dusverre niet direct onder hem staand deel van het stroomgebied der kr. Meureubôh.” The newly created territory — still called, by historical resonance, the Kawaj XVI — was “in werkelijkheid dus heel iets anders dan de Kawaj XVI, waarover hij vroeger belastinggaarder was”: no longer a circle of tributaries but a consolidated chieftaincy. The handbook explicitly rejects any comparison to a Sagi federation of Groot-Atjeh.
Parallel on the East Coast and in the Alaslanden
A similar office arose on the Eastkust, in Tamiang, where the title Keudjeuroeën — there often spelt kédjoerön — was borne by the territorial chiefs of Karang and Moeda after the partition of Radja Mengkoeta’s realm. The two Tamiang keudjeuroeëns retained the institution of the Datoeq Ampat Soekoe council; in the Alaslanden the analogous chief is called Kédjoerön outright, and presides over the kerapatan (great council).
See Also
- Teukoe Tjhï’ Meulabôh
- Kawaj XVI
- Sarakata
- Sultans of Atjeh
- Oelèëbalang
- Oelèëbalang tjoet
- Seunagan
- Beutông
- Meulabôh
- Westkust van Atjeh
- Datoeq Ampat Soekoe
- Tamiang
- Alaslanden
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 53–55, 78.